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Archived: Wandersong – A handcrafted indie adventure game about the power of music. Go on a journey and save the world with singing~

iCrowdNewswire - Jan 28, 2016

Wandersong takes you on a whimsical, musical journey around the world! Use your singing to solve people’s problems, solve puzzles, and hopefully, ultimately, save the world!

…Is a side scroller where you can sing at any time! There’s a lot of emphasis on narrative and playful interactions with your singing.

You can run and jump with the keyboard or controller buttons, and sing using either the mouse or a controller stick. Throughout the game you’ll encounter a wide variety of characters and objects who respond to your music in different ways. Wandersong is *not* about learning a few note patterns and re-using them throughout the game: it’s about observing the environment, and using music to interface with each unique situation.

Your singing will be able to move objects, change the direction of wind, clear fog, summon birds, passify ghosts, alter the flow of time, or a hundred other things… depending on what you sing to!

Eons ago, the goddess Eya set the universe into motion with her music. Now, as she does every epoch or so, she’s planning to sing a new song, effectively resetting existence.

To preserve the Earth, the bard will have to go on a journey around the world, visiting the planet’s spirit guides and collect pieces of a mysterious melody called the Earthsong.

The story has flavors of Earthbound, Over the Garden Wall, and My Neighbor Totoro…

The Bard – A jolly soul who brings music wherever they go. Everyone calls them a kid, but on closer inspection, they’re not all that young. Unrelenting optimism paves their way forward!

The Angel – A messenger for the goddess Eya. Vicariously feels her mom’s love for all that exists, which makes her job as harbinger of doom challenging.

Miriam – A rude witch and unwitting ally on the bard’s journey. Has powerful magic and rides a broom around. Impatient and short-tempered, but not a bad person once you get to know her…

The Dream King – One of Earth’s guardian spirits, albeit the laziest and most apathetic. Humans are “eh.” Seems content with the end of the world.

And many more…

The first “Act” of the game is already playable (of 7 or 8). All the basic systems are in place, we have a swanky level editor, all that good stuff. We have a roadmap for what the rest of the game is going to look like and a pretty good understanding of what it’s going to take to make it. While some big challenges still lie ahead of us, we’ve laid enough groundwork to be confident that we can make the game and that it will be compelling to play when it’s done!

I’ve been making games in Game Maker (this one included) for over a decade. I’ve made jRPGs, platforming adventures, mobile puzzle and action games, and most recently, a deckbuilding roguelike called Coin Crypt. Last year I rode my bicycle 5,000 miles across America. I found a scarf in a tree once and have been wearing it ever since. I am not a good singer, but I still really like doing it!

I have thus far been handling every aspect of the game solo. With kickstarter funding, I can bring in collaborators for sound and music!

Hyperduck Soundworksis responsible for that pretty music you heard in the trailer! They’ve worked on a huge variety of games, including Dust: An Elysian Tale.

Music plays a vital role in Wandersong, obviously! We want to fill the world with simple singalong tunes and folksy charm. Wherever possible we’ll be using live performance to capture the feeling of real human presence, with simple instrumentation that goes pleasantly with the sound of the player’s singing. In particular we’re inspired by flavorings of Irish folk, Amelie, and game soundtracks like that of Wind Waker.

If we exactly reach our funding goal, it’s going to be used like this:

Our collaborators for sound and music are not set in stone yet, and the extent of what we can do will be determined by the success of this Kickstarter in addition to my own personal funding. If we exceed the goal by a significant amount I’ll be able to put the money towards other aspects of the game, but our first priority is making sure we can support talented musicians and sound designers to make quality music and sound.

I have some savings from my previous game(s), and a continuing passive income from those releases to help me pick up the financial slack in the time between now and when Wandersong is done. Any amount exceeding the goal is going to help me make sure I’m personally taken care of, besides also working us towards those stretch goals!

TBA!

If it looks like we’ll hit our goal, then we’ll start talking about some of the specific things we can achieve with extended funding!